Backing-lumber for half-tones.



No. 832,530. ,ATENTEIS 0012.2; 1906;

- w. BROWN & A. WEBER.

BACKING LUMBER FOR HALF TUNES.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 12.1905- o o o o o :0 o 0 I o o o o o o o L o o o o o o o o o o o o o. o I o o o o o o o o o 0 nu wflll 23.. nnulanw. n e.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'W ILLIAMBRONV N AND ALBERT. WEBER, OESAN FRANCISCO, GA'LIFQRNIA. BAQKINGg-LUM BER F OR I -1IALFu-YT QN ES.

Nor 832,530.

Specification of LettersPatent.

, Patented-Oct. 2, 1906.

I Application filed October 12, 1905- Serial No. 282,425.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatwe, WILLIAM BROW and AL ERT WEBnn, citizens ofthe United States,

tones and the like.

Inthe printing art it; is now usual to mount the half-tone plate or 'zinco'directly onto a block of hard wood,securing the halftone plate to the block by tacks gdriven around illlle border of'theplate. The latter is of zinc ,or copper and usually quite thin not over a'sixte'enth of an inch inthicknessand the tacks are driven ,throu h a thin flange or border extending entire y around the engraved surface. This flange is very thin, so that theheads of thetacks will not make anpimprint when the block is run throughthe'press. The wood used is as hard as can be got and is very expensive, costing from eighteen to twenty-four cents a foot.

'Thebo rder left for the tacking. results in a loss of an eighth to a quarter of an inch all around the print, which loss inadvertisingspace where half-tones are used so much amounts to considerable where advertisingspace is very expensive. [This style of mounting half-tones and zincos is used because it isas cheap as any heretofore known,

and because half-tones land'zincos come in all sizes, and no one size of castblock could be used vfor any considerable 7 number of halftones. Thewood comes in boards of any length and, andis sawed up by the engraver as he wantsit. The great d-ifliculty, however, with wood blocksand mountings of the-above order is the tendency of the wood to warp, for the plate to hollow or buckle, especially on long runs where tens of thousands of prints are to be made from one cut, also that'the plate frequently pulls off the block and gets damaged and damagesthe other printing matter, or,v breaks the, press, or the tacks work loose and frequently the pressman has to stop the press and drive the tacks in.

Half-tone work is entirely different from electro and stereo type work. The latter is cast from an original and offers no considerable or extended flat surface, the type and lines being spaced more or less so that a stereo or electro offers very little opportu nity for suction. Furthermore, electros and stereos are usually-full column width, and fixed holders or castbacking-blocks maybe used advantageously for them, since different electrotypes or stereotypes b ut of uniform size, may be used successively on the same press or in the same magazine or paper but .with half-tones and zincos the conditions are entirely different. First, the half-tone presents a broad flat surfacethefull area of picture and exerts a considerable suction as the rollers pass over it, which tends to rip the plate from the block whereit is simply secured at the edges to the block. Second,

hardly two half-tones are of the same size and more seldom, still are they of the same width as :the column orspace in which they are to appear when; in print. :Half-tone plates and zincos vary in'size corresponding with the variations size ofthe pictureswe see e spap ,v boo m zin Hence itis that aready-to-hand mount or backing for all sorts and sizes ofhalf-tone plates is desired and necessary. A cast lo f n S r s hcl m ra a out of the'question.

The object of our invention is to providea cheap backing material for half tones, zincos,

and-the like, which can be carriedin stock and cutup into any desired size of block without special machinery, and which will overcome allthe numerous andserious shortcomings of the. ordinary wood block.

' The invention consists of; the parts and-:the construction. and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which i u 1 i a Persp tive ie of a P n i o' s ow Pa br k aw 2 represents a, plan view of a large block with a permanent metal plate secured-thereto, with dotted lines indicating a method of subdividing uhe blocksinto, a plurality of smaller blocks. i A

Arepresents awood block or board of any Width and length whatsoever, planedto the proper thickness. We havesucces sfully used and prefer to use a cheap wood costing not over four cents a foot as against eighteen to twenty-four cents a foot for the picked hard wood usually employed as backing. Secured to the top of the block or board A is a soft light composition-metal plate 2 about oneeighth of an inch, more or less, in thickness,

which has sufficient inherent rigidity to prevent the block warping or the printing-plate 3, which is secured to the plate 2, from holpermit the plate and board to be sawed through to cut out blocks of any desired size from the same piece, as indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 2.

The printing-plate 3 may be in every way just like the ordinary thin metal half-tone plate or zinco, eXceptthat it need have no tacking border. While one maytack the plate 3 onto the composite wood and metal block, it is preferred to sweat or solder the back of the printing-plate direct onto plate 2 and then run the block through a trimmer to trim the edgesof the wood and of the two metal plates flush with the actual border of the engraving. A plate thus mounted allows the printed matter to be brought close up all around the cut or picture, and thus effect a very considerable saving of advertisingspace. The only way now by ordinary methods to have a cut fill the full width of a col umn or to have the printing matter come close up to the picture is by mounting the plate solid, as it is called; but this makes the cut very heavy, besides being an expen sive process and usually one not followed on cheap work or'work appearing for one issue only.

Material or lumber, consisting of the board A and its protective plate 2, secured thereto by the spaced nails or screws 4, may be turned out in bulk and sold direct to the engraver tobe cut up by him into any size or sizes to suit. Thus he may saw out a block from the same piece suitable for either a two and one-fourth by three and one-fourth a five by seven, a six and one-half by eight and one-half, or any other size or shape of printingplate. A block out out of this backing material or lumber prevents the half-tone from buckling or hollowing in the center on long runs. It prevents the wood from warping or shrinking. By sweating on the half-tone plate the latter is prevented from pulling off in the press and damaging the plate or type. It requires neither overlays nor underlays on account of the firm even, support afforded the plate, thereby giving allthe details and graduations with a flat impression.

Not only may a block of any size be cut from a single piece of our lumber, but the shape of the block need not necessarily be rectangular. The engraver is enabled to cut a block of irregular shape in case he needs one for vignette or mortises or the like. Moreover, several half-tones may be blocked at once to a single piece of our lumber, the halftones being fitted to one another, so as to occupy the backing to best advantage, and then the backing may be sawed up into the several printing-blocks along the division-lines between the several half-tone plates and the blocks then trimmed.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, a backing material consisting of a relatively thick layer of wood and a relatively thin layer of metal permanently united thereto by screws or nails driven through the metal into the wood at regular intervals so as to permit the united wood and metal being cut into smaller sections having the same characteristics as the composite piece from which the sections are cut.

2. A new article of manufacture comprising in combination a block of wood, a flat soft-metal plate normally secured to the wood, a half-tone or like printing-plate sweated to said metal plate, said plate covering the top surface only of the block of wood, and said block, metal plate and printingplate trimmed flush with the printing edges of the printing-plate.

3. A new article of manufacture comprising in combination a block of wood, a flat metal plate permanently secured over the top surface only thereof, and a printing-plate sweated or soldered onto the metal plate, said metal plate possessing sufficient inherent rigidity to prevent warping of the wood or hollowing or buckling of the printing-plate, and said securing means of the printing-plate to the metal plate permitting the block and the two plates to be trimmed close up to the bprder of the printing matter on the printingp ate. 7

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM BROWN. ALBERT WEBER.

Witnesses:

HENRY J. WESSEL, RoBT. SNAER. 

